What's Left of the Flag
by Adrian Hawktail
Summary: After Sirius' death, Dumbledore ignoring his pleas for help, and his two best friends breaking ties with him Harry's had enough of the wizarding world, and chooses to run. But now he's been drawn back in to the world that shunned him. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

Hello everybody, first of all I'd like to thank you for considering reading this story. I haven't really written to much Harry Potter fiction in my life, and absolutely none on , so I hope that this doesn't turn out too bad, and sincerely hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I believe I will enjoy writing it. Moving on, this story is going to start out with Harry having a few flashbacks both during and after graduation from Army MOS Training. How he got there will be explained by the end of the first chapter, and I hope that you can accept that and continue reading it, if not then this is obviously the wrong story for you...who knows, it might be the wrong story for me to write, I don't know. Anyways, enough of my rambling, let's get moving forward, eh?

After Sirius' death, Dumbledore ignoring his pleas not to send him back to the Dursleys, and his two best

friends breaking ties with him, Harry has had enough of the wizarding world and chooses to flee to America. There, using

magic he manages to enlist in the US Army. However things never go as planned for Harry, and it would seem that he's destined

to return to the wizarding world sooner than he had planned...but this time, he has a mission ahead of him. And he will not fail this time,

one way or another.

What's Left of the Flag

Chapter One

_There are many moments in my life where I look back at it and ask myself what the hell I was thinking...many of them have occurred fairly recently this summer, of course that may not count as it's pretty much been the same question over and over again going through my head. _

"MOVE IT POTTER! I SAID MOVE IT, NOT STAND THERE EYEBALLING ME PRIVATE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING RUNNING AWAY FROM ME SHIT BIRD? I'M TALKING TO YOU!" A gigantic dark skinned man in a U.S. Army uniform shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Drill Sergeant, I was instructed to make my way into the class room, Drill Sergeant!"

"DID I ASK YOU WHAT THE FUCKING HELL YOU WERE TOLD TO DO, POTTER? FUCKING DROP RIGHT NOW! DO IT SCAR HEAD!"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

"DID I SAY TO START PUSHING YET? NO I DID NOT! RETURN TO THE FRONT LEANING REST POSITION!"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

"NOW! IN CADENCE! ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"One!"

"ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"Two!" _What the bloody fucking hell was I thinking?_

**Three weeks earlier.**

"Harry, really, it can't be that bad at your relative's house. You've returned there every year since you started school, and before that you lived in their home for ten years without coming into harm's way, surely you are exaggerating their treatment of you."

Harry only shook his head, "Please, Headmaster, you have to believe me! They hate me there, I can't go back there again, especially since..." Harry swallowed the lump in his throat at his Godfather's name, "since Sirius is gone...I just can't take it any more."

Albus Dumbledore sighed deeply before patting Harry on his shoulder, as if he were a small child, "Harry, I understand that you need time to grieve, which is why you must go back to the Dursley's residence this summer. I promise you that if you still feel the same way next summer that we will figure something out, but until then you have to promise me that you won't do anything that might put yourself in danger."

Harry glared at Dumbledore's condescending tone before shaking his head again, "Fine...believe what you will. I'm leaving now, _sir_. He said sarcastically, much to the annoyance of the older man behind his desk. Harry quickly excused himself from the Headmaster's office, choosing to make a beeline to Gryffindor tower, rather than chance running into anybody else who might be in the corridors. As he passed through the common room he couldn't help but notice Ron and Hermione talking quietly in the corner of the room. He briefly considered talking to them and asking if they were alright, seeing as how neither of them had spoken to him since the battle in the Department of Mysteries, but decided against it since he wasn't really feeling up to any more 'wonderful' conversations with anybody today. Not only had he lost his God father barely two days ago, which it seemed nobody but himself, Remus, and Tonks acknowledged, but he had also been shot down on staying at the Burrow or Number Twelve. Although he didn't particularly like the idea of staying at the latter, it would most likely be better than going back to the Dursley's for another summer of being beaten to a pulp and used as slave labor for his Aunt.

However before Harry could make it all the way up the stairs he was ambushed by his two best friends, "Harry, we need to talk about the..." Hermione seemed to hesitate, looking around suspiciously for a moment before continuing, "We need to talk about the Department of Mysteries." She said, in a slightly lowered voice.

Harry sighed deeply before nodding, motioning the two to follow him up to his and Ron's dorm, hoping to god that they weren't going to go on the whole it's not your fault line. He knew it was at least partially his fault that Sirius was lured to the battle and wasn't going to just brush it off as if it had never happened like so many others apparently had. "Look, guys. If you're going to try and tell me it's not my fault, then just don't...I don't want to hear it right now." He said, tiredly.

Ron rolled his eyes before glaring at Harry, "It's always about you, isn't it? Oh my scar hurts, guys you have to help me stop You-Know-Who, it's all my fault that Sirius died everybody should feel sorry for me!" He mocked in a high pitch voice, causing both Harry and Hermione to stare at him in shock.

"Ron! Stop it! I can't believe you! You said that you'd let me handle this!" She shouted at the red head, leaving Harry even more shocked.

"What? What the fucking hell are you two talking about? I've never asked either of you to help me with Voldemort!" He ignored Ron's flinch, "In fact this last time I specifically asked you NOT to come with me!" He growled.

"Yeah right, Harry! You know that we've always been the reason that you keep lucking out and we're tired of being your side kicks and always getting hurt doing it!" Ron shot back.

"SHUT UP RON!" Hermione shouted at him, silencing both boys and cutting off Harry's response. Turning to Harry she sighed, "Look, Harry...what Ron's trying to say is that it keeps getting more and more dangerous around you and...well I don't think that we can keep being your friends with all that's been happening over the years. Especially since Vol- agh, you- know-who, is really back." She said, quietly.

The raven haired teenager stared at her for a moment before looking at Ron and then back to her, "So...that's it then? You promised that you would always be by my side, and then when the going gets rough, and nobody likes me anymore because they can't pull their fucking heads out of their asses, you're going to run off to greener pastures? Is that it?" He asked, getting more and more angry at his two 'best friends'.

Hermione shook her head, about to say something when Ron interrupted again, "Yeah, that's exactly what it is, Potter! I'm to much of a coward to be your friend. No! What is happening is that you're turning into an arrogant prick who keeps on leading us into danger each and every year, and we're sick and tired of it! You want to know why everybody hates you? It's because you are a no good, shit-for-brained arrogant-" Before the youngest male Weasley could finish his sentence Harry's fist slammed into his face, breaking his nose, "AGH! MY NOBE! FUGH YOU HARRY! I HAGH YOU!"

Harry glared at his two previous best friends, "Get the hell out of my room...both of you. I don't want to see either of you ever again, you hear me? If you ever talk to me again, EITHER of you, I'll put my foot so far up your ass that you won't be able to walk again. You hear me?" He shouted, pointing a finger towards the door. Before throwing himself into his bed and drawing his curtains.

"Platoon! Attention! Open ranks...march!" Drill Sergeant Siebert shouted.

The entirety of Delta 35th's Engineer Battalion's First Platoon moved as one as they made way for the Drill Sergeants to inspect their ranks. Private First Class Harry Potter was dreading this moment. The first actual inspection since he had gotten to the United States Army's Basic Training in 'wonderful' Ft. Lenardwood, Missouri. Not only was it his first inspection, but as the Platoon Guide he was to be held responsible if any of the other soldiers in the platoon weren't squared away...of course he already knew what was going to happen...it was still red phase, after all. Five minutes went by before any noise was heard within his ranks, as he ignored the Drill Sergeants for the other Platoons shouting at them. Potter had just about thought that their Drill Sergeants would admit that they had done something right for once, despite that it was obvious they were the best platoon in the company...until he heard the dreaded phrase. "HOLY SHIT, GUY!" _Fuck..._

"What the hell is this shit? Private Potter, get your sorry ass over here!"

"Moving, Drill Sergeant!" Harry was praying that whatever the Drill Sergeants had found wasn't too bad...but it was too much to hope, he was sure. As if confirming his worst fears Potter's eyes found Drill Sergeant Feagan standing in front of none other than Private Martin...one of the two resident fuck-ups in first platoon...and he was missing his cover. "Drill Sergeant, Private Potter reporting!"

"Private Potter, are you not the PG for this platoon?"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!" _Fuckity fuck fuck fuck._

"And as such, you are responsible for ensuring that all of your fellow soldiers have their proper equipment, am I right?" Feagan stated calmly, despite the rage broiling just beneath the surface.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

"So why, may I ask," The Drill Sergeant continued, his voice getting louder by the second, "Is Private Martin missing his God damned cover?"

"I don't know, Drill Sergeant! He must have misplaced it, Drill Sergeant!"

"Oh he must have misplaced it? How the fucking hell do you know that if you haven't even asked him?" He shouted.

"I-uh...Private Martin, where is-"

"DID I FUCKING TELL YOU TO ASK HIM WHERE HIS COVER WAS?"

"No, Drill Sergeant!" _Damn it all to hell...I still have fourteen more weeks of this shit._

_**Two and a half weeks earlier**_

Harry couldn't believe that he had actually went through with it. After realizing that not only was the wizarding world at large hating him right now, but his two former best friends had abandoned him and Dumbledore had sentenced him to another summer of hell on earth at the Dursley's. After sitting by himself the entire train ride home he had thought about what he could possibly do in order to escape from his life...eventually he came up with something, but wasn't sure exactly whether he could pull it off or not. He had decided that he wanted to leave Britain, at least for the summer. He certainly had enough money, at least in wizarding money, and he knew that could be converted to muggle money.

After pondering his situation for a few more hours he decided that upon arrival at Kings Cross he would lose himself in the crowd before calling the Knight Bus to take him to the Leaky Cauldron so he could convert a few thousand galleons to some muggle money, both pounds and American money, where Harry had decided to go. His plan went off without a hitch and the next day he found himself sitting at a bus station in New York City, trying to figure out his next move. He had already bought and consumed an aging potion, making look as if he was eighteen, and had obtained 'legal' documents that said he was in fact eighteen and a legal adult with Citizenship in Britain.

Unfortunately he hadn't thought much beyond actually getting away from Britain and now had nowhere to go and only a couple hundred dollars on him, his money not going nearly as far as he had hoped after converting it to both muggle pounds and American dollars. He was close to giving up and buying another ticket back to London before something else caught his eye...an Army recruiting office. He considered his life for a moment, thinking about how he had been treated in the magical world, what he had been through, and questioned whether or not he actually even wanted to go back there. After thinking about it for a while he decided that even if he did want to go back then he could merely obliviate a few people, destroy his paper work and then it'd be like he never even entered the United States...of course he never stopped to consider how wrong he was.

He had gone into that recruiting office that day and had signed on to join the United States Army, his MOS was to be a 12B, or a Combat Engineer...a job that had been described to him as an infantry unit that carried enough explosives to level an entire building...he had been sold immediately. It didn't take him long to regret his decision.

_**Sixteen weeks later**_

"Private First Class Harry James Potter! Front and Center!" Captain Buntin ordered as Delta 35th stood on Gammon Graduation Field. It was October eighth, and Harry's AIT graduation date. Although he was over two months late to Hogwarts, he really couldn't bring himself to care all that much any more, especially after he had been made Honor Grad and selected to continue in a special training program, although he hadn't been informed exactly what that was yet.

"Private Potter reporting, Sir!" Harry said, proudly saluting his company's CO.

Captain Buntin smiled at the enthusiasm the soldier showed, "Private Potter, due to your dedication and perseverance you have been selected to be promoted to Corporal, E-4." Potter smiled brightly as Drill Sergeant Siebert handed him his Corporal patches for his Class A's. "Congratulations, Corporal Potter." The Commander said, saluting Harry and dismissing him as soon as the salute was returned.

After another hour the company was dismissed, most to spend a week of leave with their family before being shipped to their duty stations...Harry, of course, wasn't that privileged. He shrugged it off, deciding that he didn't care to spend any time with his 'family' anyways, as he went to work adjusting his engineer castle on his collar, making sure it was straight. While he was working on fixing it he failed to notice the Colonel that was quickly approaching him until he was almost right in front of him, however the second he saw him he snapped to attention and saluted him, "Good afternoon, Sir!" He nearly shouted, the instincts pounded into him during his training forcing him to be heard above the noise of the crowd.

The Colonel immediately returned the salute with a smile on his face, "At ease, Soldier. My name is Colonel Brune, I'm here to speak with you about continuing your training."

Harry immediately snapped to at ease before nodding his head, "Yes, Sir, I was told that I was selected for continued training, but I wasn't informed as to what it was."

Brune smiled brightly at Potter before nodding to him, "Follow me, Potter, this conversation isn't one that should be spoken in such a public place."

Potter immediately snapped back to attention before quickly following General Brune, "Yes, Sir, may I ask why I specifically was selected for this program?" He asked.

Brune nodded, "Of course, Potter...you were selected for this program simply because you're Corporal Potter...or more specifically you were selected because you are Harry Potter." The general laughed at the shock that briefly showed on the Corporal's face before it was reigned in, "Did you honestly think that we didn't know who you were, Potter? The entire world knows who you are...even if you are more well known in Britain, we've still heard of you. We have also heard of what is happening in Britain right now."

Harry grimaced, he thought he had escaped his fame, but even here people knew who he was. He knew that he would eventually have to deal with Voldemort, but had hoped to wait out his time in the military before he went to hunt him down, unfortunately it was looking more and more like he was going to have even less of a chance to do that now. "I assume that you are talking about the war with Voldemort that's about to start."

Brune sighed and his face lost it's amused smile, "Potter...the war has already started. It's been going on since the middle of last month."

Harry blanched...he knew that the war would start sooner or later, but he had hoped that his little stunt at the Department of Mysteries had delayed Voldemort's plans enough to put it off for at least a couple more months...apparently he was more organized than even he had known, "So what did you want me to do, Sir?" He asked, even though he had a sinking feeling that he already knew the answer.

The officer began walking again, into a building and towards a room with a table and several people standing around it, "Potter, what we are wanting you to do, is to go through a special training school. It's a little more than a year long, and it's hard as hell to get through, you thought Basic training was bad? Basic was nothing, Potter, and this school will completely destroy you before you're done with it…just so we can build you back up…again, thankfully it shouldn't be quite as hard seeing as how you just experienced that process on a smaller scale. What you should also know, and as you have probably guessed by now, is that we will be training you in a variety of tactics, technology, and magic, and it sure as hell isn't what you learned in Hogwarts. Light, dark, good, bad. They're all the same fucking thing, Potter. Just because a spell can kill somebody in a second and can't be blocked doesn't mean that it's automatically evil...it just means that it's useful as hell, not to mention a whole hell lot more humane than a lot of the methods that we use against our normal enemies."

Potter nodded, he had already came to the same conclusion soon after joining the military, but he was still confused as to why the war was important to them, "Sir, I understand that, what I don't understand is why you are concerned about Voldemort. As far as I know he's only looking to take over Britain, and although that's not good, I should know, it doesn't seem to immediately effect the United States. Even if it does concern us, how are we supposed to do anything about the problem if he hasn't directly attacked us?"

The only other officer at the table shook his head, "Potter, I don't think you understand. This 'Lord Voldemort' as he calls himself, isn't just a threat to England, he's a threat to the entire world. Think about it, how much does this resemble World War Two? Voldemort is just another Hitler, and he has his own alliances. Even if it wasn't too similar to WWII for our tastes, we have evidence that Voldemort has already started attacking us or at least some of his soldiers did, and that gives us an excuse to get involved this war of his. We don't want a huge force going in there right now, all that would do is complicate things, and we don't have enough wizards in our forces to do that in the first place. Instead, we want to train you, ONLY you, and make you into a one man army. We know you can do it, it's just the matter of you deciding to take care of it. If you do decide to do this then you will have complete control over the mission, you'll decide your own SOP's and Rules of Engagement. You might even be released from service when it is over, if you decide you want to. But unless you start training now, then you'll never be ready by the time you need to be."

Harry looked down for a moment before turning to Colonel Brune and nodding, "I'll do it, Sir."

_**One year and two months later**_

Harry Potter gasped both for breath and in pain as he pulled himself through a flooded cave, _Damn it, Potter, hell of a mess you've gotten yourself into this time, isn't it?_ He thought to himself, doing his best to keep his head above the water as much as possible. Finally he reached the end of the cave and managed to crawl out of the small opening and into the freezing night, where snow lay on the ground. _Of all the bloody times to throw yourself into a flooded cave, it had to be in the middle of fucking December, didn't it?_

Potter grimaced from the cold but other than that didn't show his discomfort as he moved as quietly and quickly as he could through the forest surrounding him to his objective. He was wearing a light grey cloak with the hood up that cast a shadow charm over his face, he was also wearing a basilisk hide spec-ops suit with several gadgets secured to it. "Hehe. We sure showed those mud bloods a good time, didn't we, Malfoy?" A drunken voice said loudly before laughing to himself, "Yep, we showed 'em, and then we killed the filthy little sluts."

Harry could almost feel the disgust in Malfoy's voice as he rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Pettigrew, you were barely able to kill two of them, never the less show them a good time. You're lucky that the Dark Lord considers you so important, or I'm pretty sure that you would have been dead a long time ago you little fucking rat." Lucius said, annoyed.

"Hey! That's not true and you-" Pettigrew began, but was interrupted as a beam of green light collided with his back and he slumped forward, dead.

"Pettigrew? Shit! SOUND THE ALARM! WE'RE UNDER-" But Lucius was cut off too as he dodged a killing curse aimed at himself coming out of the trees. Drawing his wand he started returning fire into the tree line, but ceased after a minute of no return spell fire, thinking he must have killed whoever was there. However the second he began advancing a ribbon cutting curse sailed out from behind the trees and cut him in half, leaving him screaming on the ground, clutching the bloody mess where his intestines were spilling out of his body. The bone shattering curse that connected with his head seconds later was as much for mercy as it was to shut him up.

Harry held a finger up to his ears as he walked over the gory mess that used to be Lucius Malfoy, "Command, two DE's out for the count, the alarm has been raised, should I continue with the mission? Over."

Potter waited a few seconds before the magic infused hearing-aid sized radio crackled to life, _"Affirmative, Thor, you are to achieve the objectives of this mission at all costs. The package must be procured immediately. Over."_

"Affirmative Command, Over and Out." Harry stopped pacing the small clearing where both Pettigrew and Malfoy lay dead for a moment as he thought about what he should do since he was sure that the entire camp was on guard by now. Before he could think too much though he heard several people running towards the clearing. "Shit..." He muttered, going through his now even shorter list of options before suddenly fading out of existence just before four Death Eaters rushed into the clearing and saw the carnage that took all of one minute to create.

"Holy shit! What the bloody hell happened here?" One of the Death Eaters, a female, asked torn between admiration and terror.

Another Death Eater turned to answer her but came face to face with her wand, "Avada Kedavra!"

"WHAT THE HELL! It's Narcissa! Kill her!" Another of the terrorists shouted, but he was silenced by a head cleaving curse that seemed to come out of nowhere while the other male Death Eater was also killed by the woman, before she turned her wand on herself and ended her life in a flash of green as well.

Potter shook his head at the bodies on the ground, feeling slightly sick but ignored the feeling for now, he could deal with his guilt later, right now he had a mission to take care of. He turned and ran back into the shadows and came out on the other side of the forest right behind a small shed that he could hear feminine screaming from inside. Observing the camp on either side of him, he saw that there were no guards in immediate sight and decided the fast and messy option was the best in this situation. Stepping back a few feet he raised his hand before casting a blasting curse at the back wall, sending splinters of wood flying inwards and through a Death Eater standing over a twitching woman who's hair was alternating colors with each twitch, "Tonks!" He shouted, sprinting into the shed and throwing a ribbon cutter at the prone Death Eater for good measure, spilling the contents of his skull on the already filthy floor of the building.

Quickly conjuring a thick robe for the young auror to cover her, he magically dressed Tonks and grabbed her off the floor, heaving her onto his shoulders to carry her. As he looked for a way out of the camp he noticed a shimmering area in front of the tree line and immediately sprinted for it, reaching it just as he heard the popping sounds of apparation all over the camp.

"One hour and five minutes, Thor. You passed with flying colors, but had it been a real mission you might not have gotten out of there alive. You barely made it out of there because of the portal, but at least twenty Death Eaters were apparating in just as you were leaving. What would have happened if you didn't have the portal and the camp was warded against portkeys and apparation for those without the dark mark?" Sergeant-First Class Whitney said, more than asked.

Harry merely nodded, "I understand where I went wrong, Sergeant, there were very few Death Eaters in the immediate vicinity and I had more than enough time to look for a more silent entrance to the shack...however I wasn't thinking straight, I didn't know what they might have been doing to Tonks...err, I mean the target, so I went with the first thing that came to my mind."

Whitney thought about it for a moment before nodding her head, "Alright, since you understand what you done wrong, and since the scenario didn't mention portkey wards I'll let you pass. Congrats, Corporal, you've finished your training." She said, with a smile, "I was told to send you to Colonel Brune when you got out of the simulation."

Harry nodded with a smile and tossed the dummy, which had ceased moving or resembling Tonks, on to its table before leaving the room, "Thank you, Sergeant."

Whitney rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Don't thank me, kid, thank your recruiter." She said, sarcastically.

Colonel Brune smiled as he saw Harry enter the room with his hood down, "Corporal Potter! Congratulations are in order. You managed to complete our training course faster than any other Unspeakable before you, and with flying colors to boot! I'm sure Horace will be quite happy to have you over in Britain."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Britain, Sir? I wasn't aware that we had any forces in Britain currently."

Brune smirked, "Most never do...of course then again, I suppose that most people never figure out that the Unspeakables are a world-wide force headed by UN, possibly due to the fact that, aside from the US and Britain, the program is under differing names in order to make sure that stays true."

Potter shrugged, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised after everything I've learned since joining, Sir."

The Colonel chuckled, "No, I suppose you shouldn't. At any rate this is unfortunately the last time we'll see each other in all probability, so I just wanted to congratulate you on your accomplishments since you arrived here. As of now, you will be known only as Thor to the Unspeakables. While you will still retain the rank of Corporal and still be a part of the U.S. Army, you will not be expected to go to war as most soldiers will, seeing as how you're more or less going to be in a constant state of war for the rest of your career." He said, as if amused by the fact that Potter was getting out of conventional warfare by dedicating himself to fighting wars on his own.

Harry nodded, "Understood, Sir. When do I leave for Britain and what exactly will my mission be?" He asked.

"You leave at Zero-Five-Hundred Hours tomorrow morning, Corporal. Your mission is simple. You will be expected to give all sorts of hell to the Death Eaters and, ultimately, end that nightmare of a war. You know as well as I do that things are getting out of hand there...battles are starting to erupt in the streets, and we want this thing over with as soon as possible. However, your mission is also to infiltrate your old school. We know as well as you do that the Death Eater's children are there, and may be attempting to recruit members for their master. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from inflicting any permanent damage on any Death Eater students, however as I said, it's your mission and you'll have to make the call on whether or not it's necessary. If they attack you, then only use lethal force if you have to...although I doubt that'll be much of a problem given your training. We would like you to do your best to infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix as well. We have reason to suspect that Dumbledore is up to something he shouldn't be. I know that most of the members of that organization believe that they are solely fighting Voldemort, however we don't think that's completely true. Once again, only attack the members of the Order if absolutely necessary, which I sincerely hope it isn't."

Harry nodded, "Understood, Sir. Who am I to report to upon arriving in Britain, Sir?"

"You will be reporting to Lieutenant General Horace Johnson. After that your mission is your own, as we promised upon your joining. The only restrictions you will have are the ones that we have already established. Other than that...go crazy." Brune said, chuckling at the glint he saw in Potter's eyes.

"Yes, Sir." Harry responded as he raised his hood and turned to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Thor?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"I would recommend a noticeable return to Hogwarts. Just don't advertise where you've been if you want to keep your advantage."

Harry chuckled a little bit before nodding, "Understood sir."

Right, so that's the first chapter. How do you feel about it? Good? Bad? Indifferent? I'll most likely be continuing this story, so long as I get decent reviews. Not reviews that gush how awesome it is, whether it is or not, but good ones, that tell me where I went wrong and suggestions on how to fix it. Now, if you don't like the idea the story is based off of [Harry running off and getting into the U.S. Army] then feel free to tell me. It'll most likely be ignored, but it is after all your freedom to say whatever you feel is important. In fact you could post a review that has nothing to do with my story, and is rambling on about odd topics such as how one planet would impregnate another planet. If you're actually still reading this, then I am surprised and would be very impressed if you really could explain that topic to me, as it was mentioned to me by one of my battle buddies in passing, and now I'm rather curious as to how the idea came about. If it's anything terrible that would haunt me forever, please show me the mercy that is a little white lie, or silence altogether. If not, I may just have an Eldritch Abomination pop out of nowhere in my story and swallow the entire earth whole, thus ending it permanently.

Thank you for your time and, I hope you enjoyed this first installment of What's Left of the Flag.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, to get things started I'm posting more than one chapter. Normally it'll be a lot longer between updates, obviously, but I'm trying to do what I can to hold you over, not to mention I won't be doing any writing at all this weekend due to having an FTX from 1800 Friday to sometime Sunday afternoon. So anyways, here we go.

[Reformatted Version] Well, after getting back and seeing that I had so man reviews, thank you for the comments by the way. I haven't read all of them yet, but I'm taking them to heart and considering revising a few things because of the logical problems a few of you came up with. [IE: America running the Unspeakables.] I realize now, after it was pointed out, that it may seem a bit preachy. Same with a few other things such as using some more military tech and explaining some of the military terms, since it appears they may have confused some people which wasn't my intention. Thanks again for the reviews, and I'll endeavor to read the rest of them tonight. Hopefully I'll have a new chapter out by the end of the week.

Also, tried to fix the formatting problems, I didn't realize that it was underlined or bolded. In fact it didn't even show up Microsoft Word. But I reloaded it to a new document and the re-uploaded it, so hopefully it worked. For those of you who just started reading, I suppose this wasn't important for you, but I appreciate you still reading this. With that said, onwards we go.

What's Left of the Flag

Chapter 2

Harry smiled to himself as he walked out of the Ministry of Magic, his face once again hidden by the shadow charm on his now dark gray cloak. His briefing with General Horace had gone fairly well, considering that the man had been pissed off at first when he had heard that Harry Potter had left Britain, even more so when he was informed that he'd joined the United State's Army, rather than his own. However upon his promotion to an Unspeakable, and therefore under his command, he had been absolutely thrilled and forgot his former frustration with the seventeen year old.

_Potter was sitting in a nearly empty room, the only exceptions being the table with a packet lying on top of it, and the two chairs that were placed on either side of it. Harry sighed as he waited, wondering how long it would be, and knowing it was pointless to ask such questions, considering the military's policy of 'Hurry up and wait"._

_Before he could change his mind's own topic though, the door opened, drawing his attention. He immediately snapped out of his chair and stood at attention as he saw General Horace walk through the door in his dress uniform, "Good morning, Sir!"_

_Horace had stopped and stared at him for a moment, as if sizing him up before nodding and walking over to the table, and taking his own seat, "Take a seat, Corporal. How are you doing today?"_

_Potter nodded as he sat down, "Good, Sir, how are you?"_

_The General shook his head, "It'll be better when this is over, Potter. Now, let's get down to business. I've got a lot to do today, and we both know how busy your day is going to be."_

"_Yes, Sir."_

"_Good, now, first of all I want to say congratulations on joining the Unspeakables and making your way back to Britain, Potter. Truth be told you've been sorely missed by the general public, not that you would have done much good if you had just been sitting around over here anyways, but they don't care about that little fact. I'm sure you've been told your Rules of Engagement, but I'm going to repeat them again. Try not to seriously hurt any of the students unless you are attacked first, and then you are only to use necessary force. If they start hurling the Avada Kedavra at you, then by all means kill them, but otherwise disable them and move on. The same goes with the Order members, but to a lesser extent. Everything else is to your own discretion…this doesn't mean that you can go around just killing everybody you come across, Potter. You don't seem like the type, but then again they never do…you've been warned."_

_Harry nodded, "I understand, Sir. Thank you for reminding me of my RoE's."_

_Horace rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure. This folder-" He said, pushing the manila folder in the center of the table towards the Corporal, "Has everything you will need to get into your seventh year of Hogwarts, so that you can carry out your mission. We may contact you from time to time with new information, or we may request you for a mission. You don't have to take these missions if you're in a tight spot in your mission, but if you're able to then it would be best, as how much you help us will have a direct effect on how much we're willing to help you out on your mission. Remember that your current mission is to infiltrate the school and the Order. If you get the chance to fight against Voldemort, and you think you can take him on, then by all means do it…but don't get yourself killed. You may be the one to take him down, but that doesn't mean you should try and fight the war on your own. Other than that all I have to say is good luck, and happy hunting. Have a good day, Corporal."_

_The two of them stood up at the same time and walked towards the door together, "You too, Sir."_

Unfortunately Harry's first stop was one of the few places he wanted to be less than Hogwarts right now. He had managed to break in to Number Four, Privet Drive, before he left the country so that he could stash some of his supplies in the hiding spots in his bedroom. He had high hopes that he would be able to avoid meeting the Dursleys ever again in his life, but today was a Saturday, and it seemed he would have to stomach their presence for at least a few more minutes today.

He sighed as he stepped off the bus onto the sidewalk, and began making his way through the cookie cutter neighborhood. He was slightly annoyed by the fact that everybody was staring at him, though incredibly relieved that they didn't seem to recognize him. He supposed that it was to be expected, wearing his Class A's in public, but he hadn't yet bought any new clothes since he left the States. He had gone from AIT to training to become an Unspeakable for a year, to his briefing this morning, with barely enough time for him to get his high and tight hair cut before his flight. If nothing else, the Dursleys wouldn't be able to tell him that he looked like shit for once.

What remained of his already low hopes of avoiding his only living relatives were crushed as he saw both Vernon and Petunia's vehicles in the drive way. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before ringing the door bell and waiting for the inevitable shit storm. It took approximately one minute for Petunia to open the door, looking surprised to see an obviously American soldier on their door step. "Can I help you, sir?" She asked, curiously, staring at his face as if she was having trouble placing it.

Harry chuckled mirthlessly, "Are you seriously saying that you don't recognize me after fifteen years of raising me, Ma'am? I'm hurt, I really am." He replied sarcastically.

Petunia's eyes shot to his name tag before widening, "Vernon! Come here now! It's the boy!" She turned and shouted before glaring at him.

Vernon's gigantic form came lumbering towards the door, "What the bloody hell are you talking about, Petunia? What boy-" The huge man froze as he saw Harry, this eyes flicking to his name tag before his face began to color, "What the bloody hell are you doing here boy? And better yet what the fuck are you doing wearing that uniform? Probably killed some American soldier with your freakishness and stole it you did. I oughta-" Before he could finish, Harry had pushed his way past Petunia and slammed the door shut.

"Sir, I suggest shutting your mouth right now. I'm going to try and be civil this one time. If you don't then I have no problem kicking your ass and stuffing you in the fucking cupboard before I leave. And just so you know, I've worked my ass off for this uniform and I will not have you of all people undermining my accomplishments like you have the rest of my life."

Both of the adults, now in the kitchen, stared at the seventeen year old in disbelief, this man wasn't the same kid they had seen at the beginning of his fifth year of Hogwarts. Especially if he was telling the truth about earning his uniform, and so far it appeared he was. "You still haven't told us why you're here, Boy." Petunia spoke up, after noticing that Vernon was still speechless.

Potter glared at the two of them as he tucked his beret into the back of his belt under his jacket, "I'm here to get what few belongings I left here. After this you'll hopefully never have to see me again, seeing as how you seeing me would include me seeing you, and I don't have any intentions of seeing either of your ugly faces for the rest of my life, however short that may be."

Vernon seemed to have finally found his voice again after that, "Don't you dare insult me in my own home, you little brat. How the hell do you still have anything left in my house? You haven't been here in more than a year and we already cleared out your room. We were hoping you were dead." He said, believing that his comment would make Harry lose his temper, or at least hurt his feelings, and was disappointed when he heard the boy laugh.

"That was the point, fat-ass. And as for my stuff, I guarantee that it's still up there. Now move, so that I can get up there, get my stuff, and leave." With that, Harry pushed past Vernon and started ascending the stairs. He quickly found his last stash of galleons, his miniaturized trunk with his previous years school supplies in it, he'd paid a man in Diagon Alley to shrink it for him, and the few sets of clothes he had left from his time in this room. He considered putting them on before flicking his wrist, bringing out the right-handed half of his dual wand set and incinerating them, inciting a shout and screech of fear from his audience. He smirked at them as he turned around, not at all surprised to see that Dudley was coming out of his room to see what the commotion was.

"Mum, Dad, what's going…." His sentence ground to a halt as he saw Harry standing in his former room with his wand out and ashes lying on the floor at his feet. "What the bloody hell are you doing here, freak?"

Harry resisted the strong urge to turn his whale of a cousin into a pig, instead of just the tail he'd been given when they were eleven. "I was actually just leaving, Dudders." Turning to his aunt and uncle he glared at them, "I would honestly like to say that it's a shame to be leaving you two for the last time, but I can't even try to lie that much. You're lucky that Voldemort never figured out that I used to live here, or he would have slaughtered all three of you by now, and despite the fact that I'm sorely tempted to put false evidence out there that says I'm staying here again, I'm not going to. Not because I care about any of you, but because I know that neither my parents nor my chain of command would approve of it. So count yourself lucky for that as well. Like I said, this will hopefully be the last time we see each other. If it isn't then I guarantee that you won't like the circumstances, because they'll probably be me trying to save your worthless asses from the terrorist I told you about, and in all honesty, I'm not sure I'm ready to beat him yet. Now…do your best to ignore the fact that I was ever here, and have a good day." With that he pushed past all three of them again and made his way out of the home for the last time. It was time to go shopping. First for some muggle civvies, and then to Diagon Alley to pick up his school supplies.

Harry spent what was left of Saturday shopping, both in muggle London and Diagon Alley. For the most part it was rather uneventful, although Diagon Alley was strangely empty and quiet, those that were there kept their heads down and moved quickly from shop to shop. He attributed it to the war that was now acknowledged throughout all of Magical Britain, although it seemed that not much had been done to defend the country from Voldemort. There were barely any victories against his forces, it seemed, and the few that they did manage to win were at the cost of a large number of Aurors and civilians, and were for largely unimportant areas. Thankfully Azkaban, Hogwarts, and Diagon Alley were still out of Voldemort's reach. He wished he could say the ministry was as well, but he knew better than to believe that he didn't have his little death munchers influencing, if not directly controlling parts of the ministry. Speaking of the ministry, it seemed as if they had finally kicked Fudge out some time last year, having elected a man by the name of Rufus Scrimgeour as the Minister of Magic. He was apparently the former head of the Aurors, but seemed to be doing little better at his job than Fudge was.

It was a shame that the world was tearing itself apart so quickly, but he knew better than to hope it would be different, after all the wizarding world was ass backwards during normal times. He doubted it would be any better during war times. He couldn't understand how the wizarding world had fucked themselves over so badly as far as technology or even culturally, but he imagined it had something to do with depending so heavily upon magic. He knew that many of the other countries' wizards were far more embracing of technology and followed the world's events just as well as the muggles did.

He sighed heavily as he walked back into the Leaky Cauldron and towards Tom, to rent himself a room for the night. He figured he might as well get at least one more good night's sleep before his life descended into the chaos that he seemed destined for. As he laid his head down on his pillow he reflected that between spending the rest of the year with a bunch of teenagers and going to war, he honestly couldn't figure out which was worse.

Nymphadora Tonks was having a bad day. It was six o'clock in the morning…and she was already having a bad day. Well, to be fair waking up at six in the morning was always something that annoyed the hell out of her. But that wasn't all of it, four months ago she had been assigned to be one of the Aurors designated to guard Hogwarts in case of an attack by Voldemort…not that she thought that the four of them would be able to do much against the madman's forces if he managed to breach Hogwarts' defenses, but orders were orders. Even if they were stupid ones. On top of that, Dumbledore had been annoying her as well, what with his continuous policy of waiting for an attack to happen before responding to it and inevitably being too late to help anybody at all. If he would just let them actually launch an offensive maneuver or two against Voldemort then the war might be going at least a little better than it currently was. On top of everything else, the old man was still complaining about the fact that they hadn't found Harry Potter. He insisted that the seventeen year old was still somewhere in England, and that he was alive, but they hadn't found any sign of him since he disappeared almost a year and a half ago.

The entire situation made her mad. The fact that Harry had ran away when they needed him safe the most, not to mention the fact that he had left both her and Remus alone to their grieving as it seemed that nobody else particularly cared about Sirius' death. She realized that he probably felt just as bad about his godfather's death as they did, but it still hurt that he wasn't there for the only two that actually cared for him as much as he did. She was also annoyed at him for being able to outwit her, seeing as how for the first two weeks that he had been missing it was both her and Mad-eye that had spear-headed the effort to find him, only to come up with nothing. She was mad at both Ron and Hermione when they had admitted to breaking their ties with him, which she believed to be a major reason he had left, not to mention Dumbledore's own treatment of him. She wasn't blind. She had seen what the Dursleys were like, and she had complained to him multiple times before Harry had ran away, she could actually understand him running from them, at least.

But what had pissed her off the most about the entire situation was that Harry had been her own friend as well. Sure, not nearly as close as he had been to Ron and Hermione, but he had confided in her a few times, and they seemed to get along fairly well, they even seemed to have a spark between them a couple of times. She ignored that of course, seeing as how he was only fifteen at the time…hell even now he'd only be seventeen, but still. In the end, it didn't matter how much she sat and complained about the situation, it seemed as if Harry was gone for good, and if the last year and a half showed anything it was that no matter how much their world needed him, Harry James Potter was not likely to show up any time soon.

So, ignoring how tired she was, she continued about her daily routines, convinced that this day was going to be the same as any other day in the last four months.

Harry smiled warmly at the young Asian woman who brought him his coffee as he sat in the Three Broomsticks at seven in the morning. He had woke up at five and done his daily PT, although he had cut his normally four mile run short due to how cold it was this morning, and then gotten himself dressed in his fairly nice civvies before apparating to Hogsmeade for some breakfast before he would go to the castle.

"Thank you, Ma'am. How are you doing this morning?" He asked as the girl set the cup on the table, next to his eggs and bacon.

The woman smiled back. "I'm alright, still waking up, I guess, but definitely not bad." She was about to continue when she suddenly took a double take at his forehead, more specifically his scar, which was now plainly visible thanks to his high and tight. "H-Harry? Harry Potter? I thought you were dead!" She said quickly, although it came out barely above a whisper due to her shock.

Harry sighed and shook his head, "No…although I'm curious as to where that particular rumor came from, I've just been away in America for a while, Ma'am." He said, trying to be as polite as possible, but quietly wishing he had found a way to hide his scar from the general public, especially since he'd had corrective eye surgery, nobody would know it was him if it weren't for that.

The girl's head dipped towards the floor, and she seemed to be trying to hide either tears or embarrassment, perhaps both, from him, "You…you don't remember me, do you, Harry?" She asked quietly.

Harry looked at her strangely, trying to understand what she was asking, when suddenly it him, "Cho? Cho Chang? Wow! I…I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you earlier. I've just been really busy these last couple years and it's taking me time to remember some people's faces. I swear that it's not because I forgot about you, Cho." He said, in his best comforting voice, which admittedly wasn't that good. He hadn't had much comforting in his life, especially not the last year and a half, and so didn't have much experience in administering it to others.

Cho shook her head, "But you acted like you didn't know me at all…you called me Ma'am, Harry! I'm only a year older than you are…" She looked him over again, taking in his matured image, " I guess I don't really look older than you any more, I suppose, but still. Where have you been all this time?"

Harry chuckled self-consciously at that before shaking his head, "I can't really tell you where I've been, Cho. And before you get the wrong idea, it's not because I don't trust you. It's just that I'm not supposed to say anything about it until I'm told to. I swear that the next time we meet I'll tell you everything, assuming that I've been allowed to indulge that information, okay? As for calling you Ma'am, it's really more of a habit that's been pounded in to me for the last few years. I'm definitely not saying you look older than you are, in fact you look just as stunning as always. If not more so." He explained, putting on his most charming smile towards the end.

Cho blushed at the compliment before smiling a little at him, "Alright, Harry. I'll take your word for it…but don't ever call me Ma'am again." She joked lightly.

Harry grinned back at her, "Of course, Ma'am. Thank you for the coffee, by the way."

Cho light slapped Harry on the shoulder before laughing, "You're such a suck up, Harry. I don't know where you learned it, seeing as how last time I saw you, you could barely put two words together around me, you were such a cute little fifth year."

It was Harry's turn to blush, and he glared at her playfully, "Well, thanks a lot for destroying all of the confidence I've gained in the last two years. You really know how to hurt a guy's ego you know that?"

Cho smirked back, "I know, Harry. If it helps, you really were cute, although I doubt that's what you wanted me to call you at the time…or even now, probably." She giggled at the indignant look on his face, "So can you tell me why you're here of all places after all this time, at least?" She asked, now curious by both his refusal to answer her previous question and his new attitude.

Harry shrugged, "I decided that I might as well come back for one last year in Hogwarts. I went to school here for five years after all, why shouldn't I come back to graduate?"

Cho looked at him with disbelief written all over her face, "You know that I'm smarter than that, Harry. I wasn't put in Ravenclaw for nothing. I understand if you don't want to or can't tell me, but you could at least admit it to me."

Harry just smiled as if he were unconcerned with her seeing through his rather transparent lie, "Too true. Not only are you still beautiful as ever, but you certainly haven't lost your smarts either, Miss Chang. That's good. I'm afraid that you'll likely need the latter in the coming days. The former is just a bonus to both yourself and all those around you."

Cho blushed again, "You really have changed, Harry. But I think it's for the better." Looking around she noticed several other customers waiting to be served and sighed before turning back to him with a sad smile, "Well, it was good to see you again, Harry. I hope that you'll stop by sometime during the Hogsmeade weekend…or just a regular weekend. You and I both know that you never were one for following the rules."

Harry just laughed, "Alright, Beautiful, have a good day."

Cho's blush brightened but she ignored it as she smiled back, "You're not too bad looking yourself, Harry." She smirked again as she saw a light blush return to his face, "Have yourself a good day, Handsome."

Harry just shook his head and smiled as he turned to his breakfast and began to eat. At least some things were worth coming back to, even if they were rather unexpected, he sure as hell wasn't about to ignore any chances to have a good time with a nice girl this time around. He'd been cooped up around a bunch of guys for nearly a year and a half now, the only female contact he'd been having was with other soldiers, and invariably every one of them were either married, dating, or uninterested in dating a seventeen year old kid. Not that he could blame any of those three categories, but it did leave him feeling ready to have some more 'interesting' female company.

After finishing his food he stood up and dug out his coin pouch. After pinching four galleons out of his pouch and setting them on the table for Cho's tip, a whole lot more than what the meal itself cost, he went up to the counter and paid for his food. "Hey, Cho, before I go can I get changed in the latrine?"

Cho looked at him oddly for a moment before she realized what he was talking about and nodded, "Of course, Harry. Have a good day." She smiled.

Harry smiled back, "Thanks, Cho. And assuming things go alright down at the castle I think I might just take you up on your invitation to come down here this weekend. Can I send you an owl if I'm able to come?"

"Of course, you can, Harry." She laughed, as if the idea of asking her permission to talk to her were amusing to her…which he supposed it was for most people.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later." He grinned, before walking into the latrine and expanded his trunk. Approximately one minute later he was already out of the bathroom in plain black Hogwarts robes. He wasn't sure if he would have to be resorted or not, but had a suspicion that even if he wasn't required to, he might want to do it anyways.

As he headed towards the door he tossed a smile Cho's way one more time, as she approached his former table, and hurried his way out before she discovered exactly how much of a tip he had left her. He had plenty of money…he might as well help others out with it, it's not like he needed all of it anyways. Stepping outside he was slightly annoyed to see that it was snowing. Ever since he had been a kid snow had been a bad thing, seeing as how the Dursleys liked to lock him in the back yard for hours while it snowed, before bringing him in and throwing him in the cupboard. Unfortunately joining the Army had just made his impression of snow even worse, considering that he'd often have to deal with being in it for long periods of time without warming spells, seeing as how they were easy to detect. In the end though, he supposed it was all worth it, because the short walk to the gates of the school grounds seemed significantly less cold than he remembered in the years past.

Harry was about to try and open the gates himself when he sensed two people behind him using some kind of disillusioning spell that he assumed let them blend in with their environment, otherwise he would have seen them. Honestly he was surprised that he could sense either of them, as both signatures were very faint. He immediately flicked both of his wrists, drawing both of his wands and spun around, pointing his wands at in the two people's general direction. "Show yourself now or I'll reduce you both to bloody chunks." He ordered in a powerful voice, the same voice his Drill Sergeants had used in Basic.

There was a split second before the two people phased into existence, he immediately recognized one of them, the black man, as Shacklebolt who was one of the Aurors in the Order, but couldn't recognize the woman until her hair started alternating colors, finally settling on an angry crimson. He immediately lowered his wands and used a bit of wandless magic to recall them to their holsters. "Who the bloody hell are you, why are you in unmarked Hogwarts robes, and what are you doing here?" Tonks asked angrily, still point her wand in the general direction of Harry, but not directly at him as he had put his own away, she saw Shacklebolt doing the same."

Harry sighed as he went at ease, out of habit, "I'm honestly surprised and a little hurt at how very few people are recognizing me, Ma'am." Turning to Shacklebolt who was staring at his forehead in disbelief he shrugged, "If you still haven't figured it out, I suggest you ask your partner. I believe that he's figured it out, am I right, Sir?"

Both of the Aurors looked at the teenager in surprise, and recognition lit up in Tonks' eyes as she saw his scar, "Harry? What the bloody hell? I…"

Harry grinned. "It's good to see you too T-ugh!" he said, interrupted in the middle of his sentence by Tonks slugging him across the face.

"Where the fuck have you, been, Potter? Do you know how hard we looked for you? How hard _I_ looked for you? You just up and disappear one day, don't tell anybody where you're going, in the middle of a bloody war at that, and then you just show back up a year and a half later expecting everything to be alright? NO! That's not how it works, Harry!" She shouted at him, anger clear in her features, but tears also welling up in her eyes.

Harry looked down at the ground, still at ease. He knew that he should have expected this, but he was more excited to see Tonks than he thought he'd be, and he was hoping that she would understand. It looked like he might have more explaining to do than he thought he did. Looking at Shacklebolt he could see the older Auror glaring at him as well, but there also seemed to be a slight softness in his features, as if he at least half-way understood how he was feeling right then. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to take in Harry's more disciplined air before Tonks did. The fact that she was still shouting about him being gone and how they thought he was dead was evidence enough of that.

After about three straight minutes of her shouting, Harry decided it was time to interrupt her. "Ma'am…" Still shouting, "Ma'am!" Not even slowing down, Harry sighed, "Damn it, Tonks! Shut the fuck up and listen to me!" That got her to stop shouting, although it looked like it just pissed her off more, and it looked like Shacklebolt couldn't decide between angry at him shouting at his partner or amused that he managed to stop her rampage. "Tonks, listen. I understand that you're upset that I left, okay? I understand that I probably should have told somebody, and I understand that you, and many other people, were worried about my well being. However I guarantee you that I've been as safe as I possibly could for as long as I've been gone. I can't tell you what's going on right now. Not now and not here, but later, I can tell you at least some of it, alright? I promise to tell you what I can…just stop shouting at me…please. If you don't then you'll find out that I can shout back, and I really don't want to shout at somebody I consider my friend." He said, loud and forcefully, making sure to get his point through to not only her, but Shacklebolt as well.

Shacklebolt nodded, and looked at Tonks, as she seemed to still be taking in the fact that she'd been interrupted, he chose to speak to for her, his deep voice disturbingly similar to Drill Sergeant Ferelly's. "Alright, Harry. So…what are you doing here, exactly? When you ran off after fifth year, we assumed it was because you were mad at Dumbledore and didn't want to go to Hogwarts anymore." He asked, trying his best to ask questions that wouldn't spark another outburst from Tonks.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Sir, with all due respect, I'm sure Dumbledore came up with that so called 'reason' himself. Sure I was mad at Dumbledore, and still am, but he's giving himself far too much credit by suggesting that I would leave the country because I was pissed at him."

Tonks' eyes widened, "I knew it! I knew you'd left Britain, but Dumbledore insisted that you were still here. Said that you couldn't have possibly made it out of Britain on your own."

Harry's eyes narrowed at the Old Man's inaccurate assessment of him, "Of course that's what he said. He's never had any confidence in me before, so why should he start now? Besides he's an old fool that's grown too fond for his power, as far as I'm concerned…something that I'm sure you're about to object to, but I don't want to hear it. You're entitled to your views, and I'm allowed to have mine. If you're at all curious as to where I was, I'll at least tell you that I was in America. More than that I'm not going to talk about here and now. As to why I'm here, I decided that I spent five of my years in this school, I might as well finish my final year and graduate here." He said, using the same rather transparent lie he used on Cho Chang, but ignored their disbelief of it this time.

Tonks shook her head, finally able to find her voice enough to form more than a couple of sentences, " So, assuming you were going to a school in America, and assuming that I believe your story that you want to come back here for your last year." She started, making it obvious that she wasn't buying his story one bit, but decided to play along for now, "Then why did you wait until half-way through the year to come back?"

Harry shrugged, "I was busy, and I had to finish some of the classes I was taking before I could come back here. That at least is the truth, whether you believe it or not."

Shacklebolt raised an eyebrow but didn't show any other emotion other than that, "I see. So what's up with your new attitude, not to mention the fact that you threatened to blow us into bloody chunks when you realized we were here, which is something else I want to know how you did, and why the hell do you have two wands? You do realize that having more than one wand without a license is illegal, right?"

Harry smirked at the questions, he knew they would come out eventually and he was happy to answer them, "First of all, my new 'attitude' as you put it, Sir, is a product of where I've been, as was the promise, not threat, to kill you if you didn't reveal yourself. Not to mention that the country is at war and there were a couple people stalking a teenager that just so happens to be Harry Potter. Forgive me if I seem a little paranoid by telling people to back off. As for how I knew that you were stalking me, I could feel the magical signatures your spells were putting off. They were very faint, but they were still there. Between the disillusioning spells and the warming spells, it was fairly easy to pinpoint your locations. And I do, as a matter of fact, understand that you need a permit to have two wands. It sure is a good thing that I just so happen to have one of those handy dandy permits right here." He said, fishing his wallet out of his pants and showing Shacklebolt his permit, causing the Auror's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise.

"How did you get that, Harry? You're not allowed to get one until you're at least twenty-one! And the magic that you're talking about using to detect our spells is really advanced…far past the level of spells you'd be learning in Hogwarts this year." Tonks said, clearly both impressed and concerned with Harry's explanations.

The seventeen year old just shrugged, "All I can say, Ma'am, is that I have this permit legally, and that I may be able to cast high level spells, but that doesn't mean that I don't still need to graduate, nor do I not want to spend my final year with my 'friends'" He replied, sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes at the sarcasm, "Fine, I get the point that you're not going to tell us where you've been or how you learned what you know…but I swear you better tell me later, Potter." She said, both in a playful, but also dangerously serious tone.

Harry nodded, "I'll tell you what I can once I have the chance, Ma'am. I swear."

Tonks nodded, "Alright, that's good enough for me…just, stop calling me Ma'am already, I'm Tonks, and you know that. Same with the whole 'at ease' thing. Jeez, you'd think that you'd spent the last year and a half in the military or something."

Harry hesitated for a split second, but not enough for Tonks to notice, Shacklebolt picked up on it, though he decided to store it away for later. "Alright, Harry. So, if you're here to go back to school, then I guess that means we need to get you through the gate and to the Headmaster." Shacklebolt said, moving past the two and unlocking the gate, allowing the three of them to walk through and start moving down the winding path to the doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It was Eight-thirty in the morning when the three finally reached the school's doors and Harry turned back to the two Aurors. "Thank you for letting me in, Sir…Tonks. Like I said, I'll explain everything I can to you later, but right now you just need to trust me."

Shacklebolt just nodded, but Tonks sighed before offering a small smile and moving in towards him, "It's good to see you again, Harry." She said quietly, pulling him into a soft hug that he found strangely comforting and intoxicating. He quickly returned the hug until he felt her starting to pull away.

"It was good to see you too, Tonks. I guess I'll talk to you later, unless you don't have anything better to do than watching me make a mess out of the school and probably infuriating Dumbledore while doing so." He said, lightly, with a half-grin on his face. After observing Tonks' reaction of amusement, Shacklebolt didn't show anything other than a tiny smile at the thought, he turned around and headed through the doors and to the Great Hall. _Well, here goes nothing._

Harry sighed one last time and pushed open one of the doors to the Great Hall, stepping through it into a chaotic mess of noise. The loud talking continued for all of thirty seconds after he stepped through the threshold, and then silence overtook the room as everybody noticed the newcomer with completely black robes walking down the middle isle, towards the Staff's table. As he was walking he slung his bag off his shoulder and dug for the folder in it, after quickly finding it he pulled it out and put his bag back on his back. Finally reaching the table he dropped the thick manila folder on the table and stood at ease, staring Dumbledore in the eye, "Sir, I would like to transfer back to Hogwarts. My transcripts are all in this folder you'll find everything you need in there. If there is something missing then tell me and I've got an extra."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he stared back into Harry's eyes. He felt a brief push on his Oclumency shields, but it quickly died off as soon as he realized he was adequately shielded. His face betrayed his surprise for a split second before he smiled, "Of course, Mr. Potter. We would be happy to have you back in our wonderful Hogwarts." He announced loudly. Much louder than was necessary. The old bastard knew that he didn't like attention, and he was doing his best to drown him in it. But Harry wasn't the same kid that was there in fifth year, and ignored the whispers and hushed conversations erupting throughout the hall.

Harry nodded in acknowledgement, "Thank you, Sir. I appreciate the generosity you're showing me by letting me transfer back." He replied, with no small amount of sarcasm, however whether Dumbledore didn't notice or chose to ignore it, he didn't respond to it.

The old man continued smiling, despite the surprised expressions of those around him, not to mention the ever-present scowl on Snape's face. "I'm afraid though, Harry, that you'll have to go through the sorting ceremony again, seeing as how you're a new transfer student." He said, obviously believing that this might embarrass or frighten Harry, but was sorely disappointed when Harry just shrugged in return.

"I understand, Sir. I thought I might have to be resorted, which is why I didn't buy Gryffindor colors for my robes. Do you mind if I take a seat while waiting for the Hat to get here?" He asked neutrally. As much as he wanted to piss the old man off a lot, he wouldn't be much good as an infiltrator if he took every chance he could to sabotage his relationship with the head of the Order of the Phoenix. Upon receiving a nod in the positive Harry walked back down the steps and stood in the middle of the hall where students were sorted.

Thinking about how he hadn't had a particularly comfortable chair for a while, he immediately knew what chair he would conjure. Drawing one of his wands he barely flicked it and a lazy boy recliner appeared in the middle of the great hall. Smirking at the renewed whispers he sat down and reclined himself, until Fawkes burst into existence above him and dropped the sorting hat in his lap before landing on his shoulder. Harry smiled brightly at the mystical bird and petted it's head lightly, "Thank you Fawkes." He said quietly before sitting up straight and placing the hat on top of his head.

_Ah, so we're speaking again, Mr. Potter. My, my have you been busy these last couple years, haven't you? Quite a bit of deception you've been able to pull off as far as the wizarding world is concerned, I see._

_**I suppose that's true enough. It wouldn't have been possible without my instructors though.**_

_Hmm, so you're still loyal, obviously hard working…good traits for Hufflepuff, but you're not interested in that, are you? What you're looking for wouldn't be found easily in that house._

_Your decision to run off and do this was courageous, that's for sure. And you've proven yourself a very good Gryffindor in the past, eh?_

_You've got plenty of knowledge as well…and I see you want more of it…you hunger for it, thirst for it. Am I right?_

_**You are…after all knowledge is power, but knowledge in itself isn't enough for me. You know that. You already know where you're going to place me, so why not go ahead and do it already?**_

_Heh, you certainly do still have that Gryffindor spirit in you, don't you? Very well then. I suppose that it will just have to be…._

"SLYTHERIN!"


End file.
